This Professor Lives In A 6x6-Foot Dumpster, The World's Smallest House

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Jeff Wilson / The Dumpster Project

The dumpster that Jeff Wilson is turning into a home.

Jeff Wilson lives in a dumpster.

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It's not what it sounds like: Wilson is an environmental science professor and dean at Huston-Tillotson University in Austin, Texas, and he's working with his students and a team of experts to transform that dumpster into a sustainable home that costs under $10,000.

He uses the alter-ego "Professor Dumpster."

"Professor Dumpster will be spending one year in a dumpster that is approximately 6 feet x 6 feet, or about 1% the size of the average new American home. Professor Dumpster, in his bid to become part of the 'new 1%' will strive to use 1% the water, 1% the energy, and create 1% the waste of the average American home," reads The Dumpster Project website.

We first came across Wilson over at The Atlantic, where they describe his downsizing from a 2,500-square-foot house to a 500-square-foot apartment and finally to the 36-square-foot dumpster. For reference, that's 152 square feet less than the self-proclaimed "world's smallest house" in London, 204 square feet less than a typical $30,000 tiny house, and 92 square feet smaller than the tiny house in which a Business Insider reporter spent the weekend with her mom.

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We were so intrigued by Wilson's project that we reached out to Team Dumpster to see if it had photos to share. We've published them here with the group's permission.